Broccolee"[quote="wicked woman wrote:I mixed the ingredients for 2 christmas cakes than realised that the flour was....lively. Wasn't going to throw it away so I figured that baking it would cure the problem. No one had poorly tummys any way.

Anyone seen "Master and Commander"?"When at sea,always choose the lesser of two weevils."

The joke in the books (the weevil one is in there as well) is when someone asks why the Dog Watch (which is the shortest one) is called the Dog Watch and the doctor replies: Because it is cur-tailed.

Everyone thinks it's the funniest joke ever and it gets passed from ship to ship. [/quote]

It seems to be a kind of maritime office humor. I always wanted to read the book (or books),I always loved sea-based adventures and also historical novels.I grew up with Treasure Island and loved it.When I first saw Master and Commander,I thought "I must try and get hold of the book!" It's like Treasure Island for grown-ups!

The books are very good to start off with. There's adventure, excitement and humor, but I'm afraid they go downhill towards the end of the series. I gave up on them eventually as, basically nothing much would happen during the book until the last few pages and then he'd finish on a cliffhanger, making you want to read the next to find out the resolution.

There is also probably too much nautical talk. He'll take ages explaining the rigging of a ship instead of getting on with the story.

If you want a good sailing ship series, try the Hornblower books by C.S. Forester - or read the earlier O'Brian books, but skip all the techinal stuff.

Incidentally, the movie is based on bits from at least half a dozen of the books as well as made up stuff.

“Men never commit evil so fully and joyfully as when they do it for religious convictions.” – Blaise Pascal